Ramon Moreno is 'The Roasted
Swan' in Part II 'in Taberna'
(in the Tavern) from Dennis Nahat's version of CARMINA BURANA.
Photo by John Gerbetz
Photo by John Gerbetz
CARMINA
BURANA
Ballet
San Jose turns up the heat with a fiery celebration of sensuality.
Gluttony, intoxication, sex... all the seven deadly sins; that’s
CARMINA BURANA. Set to Carl Orff’s popular
choral-orchestral work of 1937, the tour de force ballet is inspired
by bawdy texts from a Bavarian monastery written sometime during
the 13th century. Says Nahat, ”Carmina shows the fortune
wheel of life. It’s about the life cycle, the ups and downs
of life, spring, beginnings, falling in love. It’s about
good fortune, bad fortune; love one moment, gone the next. It’s
about relationships of people, and the question is: Is love or
sex more important? The characters run the gamut from monks to
thieves and prostitutes.” Nahat’s version is set
on pointe, which differs from John Butler’s widely circulated
version from the 1950s. The hour-long $200,000 spectacle with
stunning medieval sets and costumes by David Guthrie, includes
a dramatization of the Roasted Swan scene, with the wails of
a bassoon and the voice of a high tenor portraying the cries
of the plucked swan as it is slaughtered, cooked and eaten at
a pagan feast.
SUMMERSCAPE Dennis Nahat’s SUMMERSCAPE
is a refreshing affirmation of life and summer romance,
found and lost, danced to music by Dmitri Shostakovich. It
is a free-flowing abstract ballet that celebrates love, both
humorous and romantic. Large hanging sculptures by world-renowned
artist Dorothy Gillespie adorn the stage as 24 dancers costumed
in white leotards and tights with purple, blue, and yellow
accents reflect the colors of the artwork suspended above
them.
MEET
THE ARTISTIC/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Artistic/Executive Director Dennis Nahat Appears One Hour
Before Curtain of Every Performance in The Ridder Lounge of Center
for the Performing Arts. This is a FREE event.
